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Despite signing a $50-million contract, Canadian NBA star Kelly Olynyk is so frugal ‘I’ve never taken a vacation’

Toronto-born player Kelly Olynyk talks fiscal prudence after signing free-agent deal with the Miami Heat. Olynyk, who has an accounting degree and is two semesters shy of his MBA, says he doesn’t wear designer clothes, leases a pickup truck and even has an old iPhone.

Canadian NBA player Kelly Olynyk just signed a four-year deal with the Miami Heat worth an estimated $50 million (U.S.). But the Toronto-born star hasn't let that change his frugal ways. (Cole Burston / For Toronto Star)

Professional athletes are notorious for blowing some, if not all, of their fortunes on outrageous purchases, from over-the-top mansions and luxury yachts to tricked-out sports cars and epic sneaker collections.

Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen once bought a Gulfstream jet, then found out it didn’t fly. Boxer Mike Tyson spent $2 million on a solid gold bathtub for his first wife. Former NFL wide receiver Andre Rison went broke after a spending spree that included $1 million on bling.

But Kelly Olynyk is not at all interested in flashing his substantial wealth. Quite the contrary.

Wearing a plain white t-shirt and ball cap over his trademark long mane after a workout at U of T’s Goldring Centre, the 26-year-old former Boston Celtic (who spent his teen years in Kamloops, B.C.) exudes a chill vibe.

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“I don’t wear designer clothes or shoes. I don’t drive a fancy car,” the frugal player says matter-of-factly. “I’ve never taken a vacation. I wouldn’t know what a vacation is.”

Olynyk has an accounting degree, is two semesters shy of his MBA, and even did a two-week internship two years ago at his financial advisor’s firm in San Francisco.

But in a world where obscene wealth can tempt people to do some strange stuff, the seven-foot-tall player has some pretty simple tastes: he always opts for a nice sushi dinner over chillin’ in the clubs, capped off with a good night’s sleep in his California king-sized bed.

We chatted with him about managing wealth and fiscal prudence in the era of multi-million-dollar pro sports contracts.

What’s your financial background?

I went to school at Gonzaga (University in Spokane, Wash.) and I wanted to do accounting because I thought it would be a great background to have, whether you’re going to be an accountant or not, just to know how money works. And how you can help yourself or others make it work better. If you have four years of someone explaining it to you in college, you’re going to understand it more than 15 minutes in one ear and one out the other.

How does your financial advisor help you?

He’s someone I work with to bounce ideas off, making sure I’m doing the right things to preserve (my money) and help out my circle, my family and friends, as much as I can.

What was it like to do a business internship in the NBA off-season?

I got a condensed version of what the industry is like, and how it operates, and the process you go through when you’re trying to make money and save money and multiply money. Budgets and habits, assets, depreciation, and to make whatever you have go as far as possible. It was awesome to get out there and find out how it works.

Do people hit you up for money to invest in their businesses?

Everyone’s got an idea or a plan for something that’s about to go big, and they want you to be a part of it. People come to you with these ideas and need money to fund them every other day, whether it’s apps or events or start-up companies they’re trying to get off the ground.

Did you invest in one?

I decipher which is the best way to go. You can’t do them all, obviously. One of my friends has a porous brick company that collects storm water run-off so that when it rains, there’s no overflow to the sewers and rivers and oceans. I thought it was a cool idea. But you’ve got to think about diversifying your portfolio. So you can’t be all in volatile investments, it’s got to be something sturdy depending on the market.

Do you own a home?

I have a townhouse in Boston. It was smarter for me to own because of how strong the Boston market is, but now that I’m not living there, I’m faced with whether I should sell it or rent it out. It’s a great place to live and raise a family.

What do you spend your money on?

I like to spend on good food. Being an athlete, where you’re using your body as your tool for success, you’ve got to be able to fuel yourself. I’m not going to cheat myself on food. It’s probably the single most important thing to making sure my body is in tip-top working condition.

What don’t you spend your money on?

I don’t wear designer clothes or shoes. I don’t drive a fancy car, I lease a Toyota Tundra, a 2016. Everybody’s different. When I first got in the NBA, my agent told me, there’s going to be stuff you don’t want to spend your money on and there’s going to be stuff you should spend a lot of money on because it’s important. He told me one to make sure you buy yourself a really good bed. You’ll appreciate it over time; it’s going to give you way more benefit. I got a California king, which is a longer version of the king. It was probably $5,000. It’s awesome. You spend just under half your life in bed, so make sure you get the best one if you have the means.

Don’t you get a lot of freebies in professional sports?

Definitely the richer or the more famous you are, the less you pay for things. It’s kind of a backward world in that sense.

Do the newbies hit you up for financial advice?

They ask what you do and how you do it. Kids just coming into the league, they want to know and they’re eager to learn, that’s when it’s going to make the most impact.

Why don’t you treat yourself to a nice vacation at a posh resort?

I’ve never really gone on vacation, and gone and done nothing on a tropical island. Usually in the summers I play with the national team. We usually go over to Europe. We travel, but to play basketball. I’ve seen a lot of the world through the game . . . One of these days I’ll take my family somewhere. They never go on vacation, either. Growing up we never took vacations. All our money went into sports camps or teams.

Do your teammates razz you because you don’t partake in a flashy lifestyle?

Yeah, sometimes they mock my wardrobe or my shoes, but it is what it is.

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